


Time is Young And So Are We

by DresdenHaskell



Series: Pakanistrasz [2]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-15 02:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19602199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DresdenHaskell/pseuds/DresdenHaskell
Summary: Glimpses at moments at the Stormwind Orphanage, where a red dragon in human guise lends his aide.





	Time is Young And So Are We

"Mister Pakani! Look, look, look!" the girl shouted the instant he walked inside.  
  
"Hey Freedy! What is it?" Pakani said with a smile.  
  
Wulfrida's little feet rushed his position across the wood floor, almost too quickly to stop herself. Parchment thrust up at him. She stood up on tip-toe, wobbling back down on her heels after a second. A grin, amused but rueful, broke across his face.  
  
"You have to tell me what it is, Freedy. I can't see, remember?"  
  
Her excited breaths paused. The paper lowered. "Oh yeah," she said. "But I wanted you to see it."  
  
"Aw, I'm sorry. I bet it's really good, though."  
  
"The Matron said it is. She tried to pin it up but I wanted you to have it." The child's voice listed with crushing disappointment.  
  
"I can still take it if you want. Then I can show everyone else and tell them the best artist in Stormwind drew it."  
  
"Mmnh..." She rolled back and forth on her feet. "Okay. Make sure they look at the right side, with the picture on it."  
  
She shoved the parchment in his hand. He felt for the waxy texture of crayons on one side. "I'll make sure, don't worry."  
  
\---  
  
As with any place children get within a mile radius, the messes were endless, of many smells and mysterious origins. Pakani had on his work robes with the sleeves rolled up, long hair tied back, as he scrubbed at something that might have once been hot chocolate. It had spilled under a chest and ripened into a chewy miasma.  
  
Wulfrida hovered around him like a chatty moth as he worked, which always made the monotonous tasks pass quicker.  
  
"And then the sheeps climbed up in the tree behind the lights, and it was really dramatic, and the gazelle went over to them and they said he couldn't join them anymore, because he put his other foot in the carnivore side, and the sheep was bit by a wolf once so it couldn't let him," she recounted the latest... story? game?... of her own imaginings, with deep gravitas.  
  
"Really dramatic, huh?"  
  
"Yes. That's what the Matron said I was."  
  
He mouth twisted in a grin. "So what did the gazelle do next? Oh, could you push the water over here, please?"  
  
"The gazelle was crying and screaming and ran down the tree until he - oof!"  
  
After the heave came a _sploosh_ as the bucket's entire contents spread across the floor. And over Pakani's feet, knees, and hands.  
  
"Ack!" He hurried to get anything important nearby off the floor and onto the nearest beds. "Well, that's one way to do it."  
  
Wulfrida stayed silent a long moment. "Did I do something wrong? You said..." her voice wibbled.  
  
"Oh - I did say to push it over, didn't I? Oh no, it's fine, Freedy, it's okay." He offered a smile, nearly went to pat her on the shoulder, and thought better of it. "Don't worry about it, it's just water."  
  
"Okay." Sniff. "But if the Matron asks, can I tell her you did it because you're blind?"  
  
\---  
  
Boo-boos were likewise standard fare at any orphanage, and wherever Pakani volunteered, he became the go-to boo-boo-fixer on shift. Most scrapes the kids got only took a tap of his hand for healing warmth to repair the damages. He called it the Light, and at least partially, it was.  
  
But then, some miracles were beyond even the priesthood.  
  
"Brother Redstone, I'm not going to mince words. I don't think this one can be saved."  
  
"I did the best I could. Tell me how bad it is."  
  
The woman took a deep breath, and then choked, her head turning away a moment.  
  
"Redstone," she said gravely, "this quilt might just be older than the city itself. It's been drooled on, puked on, peed on, pooped on, and now bled on thanks to that nosebleed. This blanket has been through all five stages of grief."  
  
After a minute of snickering, he nodded and raised a hand. "May it go with peace into the Light."  
  
"May it go in a blaze before these stains come to life! Take it out somewhere and burn it with your magic already! And do it downwind!"  
  
\---  
  
"Are you eyes ever going to get better?" Wulfrida asked from under and behind his shoulder somewhere.  
  
"Ah... No, probably not."  
  
They talked as he changed the bedding, tossing dirty linens at the basket (not like it mattered if he missed), and replacing them with fresh sheets and blankets. The cloth smelled wonderfully fresh from air-drying, though maybe with a whiff of gunpowder that drifted in from the Dwarven District.  
  
"How do you read?" Wulfrida said.  
  
"I can't, unless it's carved in the stone, but even that’s not easy."  
  
"How do you... pour a drink?"  
  
"You've seen me do that! With my thumb, remember? So I can feel it."  
  
"How doo yoouu... pick your nose?" She erupted into stifled, mischievous giggles at her own question.  
  
"With magic, obviously." He wiggled his fingers at her, then returned his hand to the bed, where he noticed something amiss. "Wait, what's - Why is your pillow case all lumpy? This is your bed, right?"  
  
"Uhmm..."  
  
He reached into the pillow and found tiny hard objects of various sizes, wrapped in something crinkly, stiff, and at this point dismally sticky. He took the risk of sniffing one. Nougat.  
  
"Freedy, is this your Hallow's End candy? Why is it in here?" he said.  
  
"Uhhmmmmm..."  
  
"Wait. Is it actually yours, or...?"  
  
"Mmmnn..." She rocked on her heels.  
  
Pakani sighed. "Okay... You already know you're not supposed to steal. And hiding it doesn't make it okay, either. Making sure someone doesn't find out is basically the same as lying, if you're making them believe a lie on purpose."  
  
Her voice came thickly, her chin burrowing into her collar. "I know. I'm sorry."  
  
"Well, I'm not the one you should apologize to, it's not mine. Also, keeping candy in your bed is just going to attract bugs and --"  
  
A distant scream, hoarse shouts, then five, then twenty.  
  
Pakani and Wulfrida both sucked in shocked breaths. Fast-moving foot steps told him the matrons had rushed to the front door. A thunderous rumble drew closer with every beat.  
  
Wulfrida clung to his arm. "What's going on?" she whimpered.  
  
He forced himself to stay calm. "I don't know. Take me over to the hallway so I can ask th-"  
  
The city bucked beneath them with a force that sent both man and child to the floor. It was like a Titanic judge had banged the planet with a mountainous gavel. Wulfrida screamed and grabbed at him. A chorus of cracking walls and toppling monuments boomed out. Hot, choking smoke plumed into the building.  
  
Pakani put an arm around the girl and pulled them both back against the wall, huddled between two beds amidst spilled candy. His breaths came quickly, but hers whistled in hyperventilation. He held her close as she wept in terror.  
  
In the shouts over the devastation, he heard the same word in several voices: " _DRAGON!_ "  
  
And then, over them, over all, a bone-quaking, stone-rattling roar.  
  
Deathwing had returned.


End file.
